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Indulto

"Players Up" blogger Indulto is a retired computer programming residing in SoCal and has been betting Thoroughbreds since the days of Kelso, cashing his first ticket at Saratoga while in college.

Indulto is well known in racing's cyber world as a participant on the Ragozin Sheets message board, the PaceAdvantage Forum, Paulick Report, and has made important contributions to the industry's audience as an HRI Readers Blog contributor.

Indulto was active in the formation of the Horseplayers Association of North America and with former HANA colleagues worked on the Players' Boycott of California racing when takeout rates were increased by the legislature there.

Taking his nickname from the King Ranch color-bearer of the 1960s, Indulto now devotes his time to advocate for the recreational player and hobbyist, but prefers lower takeout rates for all rather than subsidized rebates for the few.

Indulto supports the creation of a centralized racing authority to establish uniform rules for racing and wagering and for those standards to be enforced consistently.

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Friday, August 23, 2013

All would agree that no one needs stakes races with short fields and odds-on favorites, but relief is in sight Saturday at Saratoga, which will offer four graded events--three Grade 1s and a Grade 2—replete with competitive fields of at least nine horses.

Furthermore, those four races comprise four legs of the Pick Six. The 14-race card returns to reality with New York’s seemingly obligatory $20,000 claiming turf sprint and maidens on turf going long. The 13th race concludes the Pick Six sequence.

Parenthetically, the turf route preceding the four stakes has a full field and is a much more attractive handicapping puzzle. But racing secretaries seem to think that bettors want to use lower class runners to complete their horizontal wagers.

This is, of course, shortsighted and wrong-headed, but then what do executives know about what dedicated horseplayers really want?

Why couldn’t the Pick Six conclude with the contentious Travers? Parenthetically, the last two races could have been eliminated altogether, allowing those inside the shrine of American Thoroughbred racing on its most memorable day to leave with a final image of racing at its very best?

Post time for the Travers is 5:46 PM EDT and 5:10 for the preceding King’s Bishop which will be included in the hour-long national telecast.

How hard would it have been to include stretch runs of the prior Pick Four legs, the Test and the Ballston Spa, so that conclusions to both Pick Threes would also be viewable live? I understand this is a network decision but since they pay for the air time, racetracks should have some input as to program content.

The excitement of gambling also needs to be part of this opportunity to lend exposure to the game.

So why am I whining even when things aren’t as bad as usual? Because this opportunity is just the latest example of racing executives in leadership positions lack of imagination, even at its most successful venues.

Impertinent Questions and Possible Solution?

Who needs uniform wagering rules much less race-day medication guidelines? Why are players at NYRA tracks unable to play all exotic wagers offered with fifty-cent minimums at other venues? Why should residents of some states not be able to watch and wager on races like U.S. citizens in other states?

There’s no need for the Federal government to get in the business of running horse racing unless ineptness, self-interest and corruption is truly widespread. All that’s needed is to mandate the existence of a national racing board whose membership equally represents every state that conducts interstate racing.

This Board can be funded by those states in proportion to the total annual handle generated from out-of-state sources. Two tiers of membership would exist based on the level of funding with the major tracks contributing the highest levels and lesser tracks at lower levels, respectively.

Representatives could be comprised of reputable and respected industry participants. They could not be active employees or officials of any State government agency, racetrack operator, or horsemen/breeders’ association. Nor should they be board level decision-makers associated with the preceding.

In a perfect world, racing participants, including customers, would register to choose their representatives for their home states.

These elected representatives would, in turn, elect a Commissioner of Racing from among membership for a specified period. Their decisions would be final during that term.

This should inform the level of industry knowledge and experience needed by all board members. All majority decisions would have to include a majority in both membership tiers in order to be implemented and binding on all. Subsequent issues that did not reach the level of agreement required would then be decided by the Commissioner.

The board would be charged with establishing uniform rules of racing and wagering, including guidelines for all medication testing procedures and levy penalties for violators. Decisions as to the appropriateness and accuracy of information supplied to the board would be made by the Commissioner.

Any representative could propose an initiative for change or additions to existing rules for the Commissioner’s consideration. All changes approved by the Commissioner would then be validated by board vote. All decisions made by the Commissioner must be in writing to assure transparency and made available to the public.

What prominent name in racing do you most associate with good communication and organizational skills, having the ability to balance the interests of competing parties who would have the confidence and trust of the racing public?

This notion seems workable and fair. Could something like this happen? If so, would it be viable?

Glad someone feels the same way about Pick 4 layouts. I’ve always felt the sequence should end with the best race, the feature. Who wants to have to depend on some cheap maiden claimers?
Tomorrow’s all-stakes P4 is going to be the first P4 I’ve played in months. Got tired of doing an excellent job of handicapping the first three legs - only to lose the 4th leg to some impossible longshot, in an indecipherable race. I don’t have the deep pockets to cover everything. And even if you do - that’s usually when the favorite wins!

Thanks Indulto for ruining Travers Day or Travers Morning, Afternoon and Early Evening...whatever this 14 race monstrosity is. New York should not be allowed to slide on this. I hope Churchill and Stronach, Kentucky and California retaliate. Hey, you know, if they wanted to renegotiate fees do that. The system is screwed up. Where was the reporting on this? Now, who do you complain to? I know the OTBs were behind this. They want to trap the NY horseplayer. Capital OTB has a website that crashes whenever three people blow on it. At the same time they give 10 grand to NY’s most unknowledgeable “handicapper” to piss away during Saratoga (On the Arlington Million said capper bet five horses to win and boxed six in an exacta. he then complained about having his win bet rightfully dq’ed) Maybe that money should have been put into the website. That’s the kind of dysfunction this surtax will fund to an even greater degree. It’s incredible. I keep looking at the calendar on my wall. It reads 2013. Why does it feel more like 1982?

Yes, the not-so-fine hands of the OTBs are all over this legislation. They are as much of an anathema to NY horseplayers as the TOC is to their CA counterparts.

Hard to believe Bennett Liebman went along with it. Maybe this will motivate NY-resident player advocates to start getting vocal.

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